How to empower relationship bankers
The role of the banking relationship banker is incredibly important. Relationship bankers are on the front line interacting with customers, helping banks deliver the personalized service that customers want and expect. Relationship bankers can make the difference between whether a customer maintains (and expands) their relationship with a bank, or not. As a result, empowering relationship bankers to succeed is critical to driving customer loyalty and increasing share of wallet.
Challenges and solutions for relationship bankers
But the job of the relationship banker is also incredibly difficult. In this post, we explore three reasons why a relationship bankers job is so tough these days, and introduce a way that banks can help relationship bankers combat these challenges and more effectively serve their customers.
1. Lack of visibility into customer activities across banking channels
Banking customers are more self-educated than ever, and are using self-service channels at a rapidly growing rate. They constantly conduct passive research through social media, explore options via self-serve tools, and use online and mobile banking options that let them bank anytime, anywhere.
For relationship bankers to provide the best service possible, it’s imperative for them to have a holistic view of customers’ activities across channels. Customers expect to interact with the bank as a single entity, which means they expect their relationship bankers to be aware of every interaction they’ve had. But when banks administer channels separately, this information lives in multiple systems. Consequently, a relationship banker can’t see a full picture of a customer’s interactions, hindering their ability to provide the personalized banking service customers want.
2. Relationship bankers face a large customer base and limited customer interaction
It used to be that relationship bankers built rapport through regular interactions. While a relationship banker might have served many customers, they had frequent opportunities to personally engage with those customers. Today, relationship bankers often serve hundreds of customers, and don’t interact with them on a regular basis (customers are engaging in other ways—see #1 above). This means it is harder for relationship bankers to build knowledge that helps them create personal connections.
Consequently, it’s no surprise that many relationship bankers get to know only a fraction of their customer base. Knowing every customer is a virtually impossible task. This means relationship bankers interact with most customers on a reactive basis, which does little to build customer loyalty.
3. Broad, rapidly-evolving product portfolios in relationship banking
Relationship bankers are tasked with educating customers on relevant products and services, yet simply understanding a bank’s portfolio can be a formidable challenge. That’s because banks’ offerings are extensive, and change quickly. New product lines launch, acquisitions come on board, and existing products evolve at a faster pace than ever. In addition, accessing information from different operational units can be difficult—often, relationship bankers have no way to get an aggregate, rationalized view of everything the bank offers.
Given these challenges, it is common for relationship bankers to know only a subset of products and services. Unfortunately, the result of this incomplete knowledge is missed opportunities for both the customer and the bank. If a product isn’t on a relationship banker’s radar, the relationship banker loses the chance to offer it when it’s relevant, and the customer doesn’t get a chance to consider it. Worse, the customer may seek that product from another provider.
Empower relationship bankers to become more proactive and effective with Customer Insights for Banking
So, how can banks help relationship bankers overcome these challenges? By arming them with the insight needed to provide informed, personalized service. This hinges on bringing data across product lines and organizational units together.
This might sound like a daunting IT problem, but it doesn’t have to be. With Microsoft Customer Insights for Banking, you can give relationship bankers a 360-degree picture of each customer, even if data lives in different systems. From one view, a relationship banker can see every interaction a customer has had with the bank, and all of the channels and products the customer is utilizing, which helps drive more informed conversations. This same view can also provide guidance on the next best action for a given customer, giving relationship bankers the ability to highlight the most relevant products and services from across the bank’s portfolio.
Microsoft Customer Insights for Banking includes AI-powered features in digital banking
In short, Customer Insights for Banking enables relationship bankers to deliver a personalized customer experience – increasing competitive differentiation and driving customer retention. Equipped with a deeper understanding of each customer, relationship bankers can better anticipate needs, engage more proactively and serve each customer more effectively.
To explore how your relationship bankers can use Customer Insights for Banking to build more profitable and long-lasting customer relationships, check out the solution preview today.
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